Wake Up Call
by tigerchic121
Summary: [Complete][Robin x Starfire] His day began with a phone call, and basically, all things considered, the phone call set into motion a series of things that would finally wake him up.


There is currently a contest on the R/S shrine, called LAS or Last Author Standing. This is from the first round where the first theme was _holiday._ This one-shot popped into my head walking down the hallway contemplating my depressing love life (the guy I like is such a dolt...) and basically out came this emotional, kind of strange story. It was supposed to be angsty, but it ended up being angsty/sarcastic/semi-comical/sappy/happy/weird. I guess people liked it though. I didn't lose the round.

* * *

His day began with a phone call. Well literally, his day began when his alarm clock went off, and he rolled out of bed to breakfast and shower. But basically, all things considered, the _phone call_ set into motion a series of things that would finally _wake him up_.

"Hullo?" He answered groggily.

"Dick, good, you're up," a brisk voice said.

"Yeah barely." A pause. "What do you want Bruce? I haven't forgotten about our meeting with Mr. Fox, but I'm _so very_ touched that you called to remind me.

Richard could basically hear his mentor roll his eyes, before biting back with the same sarcasm Dick had been displaying moments earlier.

"As _overjoyed_ I am to hear that, I wasn't calling on a business related manner."

This time it was Dicks turn to roll his eyes.

"Well, what is it then?"

Another extended pause passed, and Dick began to feel apprehension bubbling in the pit of his stomach, in a most peculiar way. He had an odd feeling that his day was about to take turn for the worst…

"I'm not exactly sure how to say this without stirring up...erm…_complications_, so I'm just going to say this bluntly. Today is Valentines Day Dick."

Richard suddenly felt winded. He plopped roughly onto his comforter, and vaguely noticed his room seemed to be spinning dizzyingly around his bed.

"Oh," he issued faintly. Dick could feel the pit of discomfort lodged in his stomach slowly slicking through his veins, leaving chills down his nerve when he tried to repress the emotions crawling up into his throat. "And?"

Richard also distantly noted, that Bruce sounded very happy he had avoided any 'complications', the next time he spoke. "Well then, I was calling to say be careful-with today being the holiday it is, and you being the person of high profile you are, the tabloids will be particularly vicious. Don't do anything that could feed their fire. Just come to work, and come home. It's for the best, trust me. Okay?"

Richard looked blankly up at the ceiling, pristine, orderly, white and somewhat plain. It was anything special-it was just there, silently going about its duty of holding up the roof. The part of Dick that didn't feel numb and disconnected from the rest of his body, dimly assessed he wished he could be the ceiling. He willed himself to become as unfeeling as the ceiling his was looking at.

"Fine," Dick answered flatly.

Bruce quickly told him good-bye, and that he would see him at work later.

---------

His second phone call of the day came right as he was walking out of his house and into the garage. The triple bleep of his cell phone seemed to be sadistically mocking him as he contemplated picking it up. Dick knew, before enough glancing at the caller ID, that the person calling would not be Bruce, but one of his friends. Dick also knew that this was one of the rare times that he would have preferred a phone call with Bruce over that of his friends-simply because he knew that he did **not** want to engage in the conversation his friends were hoping to have. He quickly entered the garage, opened the door to his Chevy, and turned the car on allowing it to warm up. He knew this call was going to take a while.

"Hello this is Dick. Who is this and what do you want?"

A cheery voice chirped back at him. "Hey dude, is that anyway to treat your old friend?"

While Richard felt the intense need to roll his eyes and bite back with sarcasm at this remark, another part of him knew (the one that wasn't numb or fascinated with his bedroom ceiling) along with the old familial rush of pseudo annoyance he'd feel engaging in a usual conversation with his friend, he also be subject to that _other_ tingling, unclassifiable emotion he was trying to repress.

"Whatever Gar, you'll get over it. Now why are you calling me? No offense, but I just talked to you a few days ago. Last I check you were neurotically obsessing over what engagement ring you should buy for Raven." Again, Dick forced his voice into a 'would be casual' state. "Aren't you, ah, proposing to her soon?"

The man on the other lines voice took on a slightly pitying, yet quietly empathetic tone. "Dick I've been your friend for a long time, and I know how you work. I _know_ you wouldn't forget the date I was going to propose to Raven. I'll be damned if you'd ever let a detail-even a minutely small one-get past you. So I know you know that I'm asking Raven to marry me tonight, and I know you know today marks more then a hallmark holiday. It's Valentines day."

Dick gave an abrupt (and obviously forced) laugh at that statement. "Really? I hadn't realized."

Gar let out a short breath of annoyance. "Don't try to pull that one over on me. It might work on other people, but it won't work on me. You figured out why I was calling the minute you heard your phone ring. So why don't we just cut to the chase because I still have a lot to do to prepare for tonight and-"

"Who made you call, Raven right?"

Gar let out a defeated sighed. "Yeah she did. You know how she is with these kinds of things."

"Why didn't Victor call? I mean, he knows that you're busy with the proposal and all, and I haven't talked to him in a few weeks."

Gar let out a nervous chuckle. "Well, heh, we planned to rock-paper-scissors who would call you. It turns out Victors planning something spectacular with this Sarah chick he's been seeing, so he's almost as busy as I am. He happened to be around my part of town one day, and he stopped in. However we, uh, came to a disagreement about the outcome of the game. We started to politely argue about it." Here Dick almost had the energy to conjure up a snort in response to the statement. "One thing led to another and um…" Gars voice got very quiet and fearful, "we ended up waking Raven up."

Richard, who knew full well how scary Raven could be when she was awakened, let out an almost inaudible hiss of sympathy.

"So," Gar continued, "Vic did the smart thing and hightailed in back to his apartment, and I did the gracious thing and offered to call you."

"Good to know Gar, thanks." Another part of Richards brain (the ones who weren't some what comically preoccupied) was struck with a sudden plan. "It seems like you've had a rough day, how about you just relax for a bit?"

Gar sighed wistfully on the other end. "Yeah, you're right, I'm already getting tense and it's barely past eight yet! Hell I'm usually not up before…" he trailed off mid sentence and then bit back at Dick in a slightly whiny voice, laced with suspicion. "Hey! I know what you're trying to do but it won't work! So I'll just stop stalling and come right on out with the reason I called. We've been thinking Dick…it's been a year today since…_it_… happened, and you haven't talked with anyone about it. We, your closest friends, only know vague details and small snippets about that night, due largely in part to Ravens ability to sense emotions oozing off a person. We've had enough Dick. It's time for you to talk."

Dick carefully chose the words he responded back with, keeping his voice chillingly unfeeling. "I can't Gar. Not now."

To Dick's great surprise Gar let out a loud curse of annoyance. "Damn it Dick! It's been a god damn year! Not a few weeks, not a month, but a year! You HAVE to talk to us about it! About that night! About your feelings! About _her_! You may be caught up in an illusion that today is the first time we've noticed your pain on this issue, because today happens to be the anniversary of that night, but you're wrong! We can tell that our choice a year ago, what happened a year ago, is eating you up, whether you think we can tell or not."

Richard closed his eyes, and with a shiver, tried to stop the throbbing in his throat. "Gar, you don't understand! I can't talk about it! I can't talk about that night! I can't talk about her! I couldn't even begin to identify where my pain is coming from, because I don't even know what emotions are causing it! I, I don't! I can't! You just don't understand! Just give me more time!"

Gar's voice came out low and jarring. "I don't think you understand Richard that your time was up long ago. In fact, Victor was about ready to tie you to a chair and interrogate you three months after we split apart, and as surprising as this may seem, Raven was ready to do the same about two months ago. I was the one who convinced them to leave you be all this time. Sure Raven forced me to call—at this very minute when she knew you'd be leaving for work, but I was the one who decided to call you today."

Richard felt his anger and desperation take over fully, as his voice rose. "You just don't understand! I have to repress my emotions, because I can't and don't understand them! I can't, I can't, I can't!" He drove his fist into the wheel of his car, and was rewarded with a long blast of the cars horn.

Gar took a deep breathe and his tone became even more coarse. "You may say I don't understand, but believe me Dick, I do. I may not be in the same situation as you do, but I remember experiencing the same range of emotion. I remember sitting in my room and wondering how I would be able to make it normally from day to day without showing this utterly confusing emotion eating up inside me. I remember being torn up inside and desperate when everyone was talking quietly to me, trying to keep my emotions bottled up and keep everyone on the team happy and worry free. We had too much to worry about back then. I remember how I felt so empty without _her_ sitting beside me, no matter what company I kept. I remember Richard."

Richard felt his anger slipping away, replaced with something alike to horror.

"So I deeply understand your situation. It took me about six months to be able to move on with my life, and understand what I was feeling. I know you're much more stubborn and uptight in life than I am, so I figured that you should have more time. But enough is enough. You tell me you can't pinpoint and understand what emotions you're going through but that's because you're repressing them! The first step to getting over the pain, is accepting your emotions! It may sound crazy Richard, but it's something that must be done."

Gars voice became slightly softer and more empathetic. "Now the situation I had with Terra is admittingly a lot different then the one you have currently. Once I got hold of my emotions, I let Terra go. I certainly don't expect you do to the same."

Richard suddenly found his voice. "Beast Boy-Gar, I'm so sorry. I, I guess I didn't realize…I don't know what to say…" he finished lamely.

"You don't have to say anything. Just come and have some coffee with me in downtown Gotham."

Richard let out the first real laugh he had had all day.

"Gar, you're a big movie actor/producer, and I'm Bruce Wayne's protégé. It would not look good if we went out to coffee, _particularly_ on Valentines Day. The publicity is the last thing we need today. Trust me-I'm not trying to avoid talking to anyone." Dick's voice suddenly got quiet. "I want to talk. Really. But it's just going to have to wait. No one on the team is available right now." Richard place the earpiece accompanying his phone into his ear, opened the garage door, revved up his car, and started to slowly cruise out of the garage. "I swear I'll call you back later but I'll call you back later--"

"She's in the city."

Richard gasped, sputtered, slammed on the brakes, and had his head jolted against the head rest as the car stopped violently. He closed his eyes as images flashed past his eyelids. _A snippet of red, a tantalizing purple and orange, and finally a deep piercing green._

Richard shook his head, and opened his eyes. "W-what?" He rasped.

"She is…she's in Gotham. She came back from Paris."

Dick had some many emotions swelling up in his head that he could barely think straight. "How do you know? I mean, we may not have been on, the best terms, but we kept in touch," he stuttered. "Even if the things we talked about in our letters were chatty inconsequential things…" Richard finished in a sad whisper.

"Raven felt her presence coming into flying in. Don't worry, she hasn't told anybody about her return yet. I asked Raven why she's flying back in, but Raven snapped at me. Said I was adding to her headache that she had involuntarily gotten, by using her powers that have been dormant for a while, strained by a lack of meditation. Which I know for a fact isn't true, because I see her meditating everyday, but for fear of my life I didn't push anymore."

Dick remained silent in thought. A buzzing seemed to fill his ears.

"Richard…Dick…man, say something. Hello? Richard? Robin!"

"Huh, what?"

"Richard I think you should talk to her okay?"

Dick almost chocked on his spit. "I can't talk to her! It would be awkward because I love her."

Silence.

"I-I mean I can't talk to her, because I don't love her anymore! I want to, but I just can't."

Gar took a few seconds before responding. "Well, I think you should. In fact everyone thinks you should. Remember a year ago? When we promised this 'break' we're on would just be a sabbatical? And then we five would return to the Titans? Well Dick, that promise was made when all of us, including you and Kory, were happy and together, and we assumed that we'd all still be together, functioning. But now…I'm not sure if that will ever happen."

Dick's mood seemed to drop ever farther. Gar continued.

"Richard…everyone, Raven, Victor, hell I'm guessing even Kory want to return to the Titans someday. We split because everyone needs time apart, but now that I've worked things out with Raven, and Victor found Sarah; we're ready to don our other persona. It's your turn to work things out. I know you still love Kory, your continuous Freudian slips through our conversation being the biggest tip off. I'm not going to pressure you anymore; I know you have a lot of thinking to do."

With that, the line went dead.

_It was a sunny afternoon in Jump City, and the citizens looked out to the sparkling ocean water and the giant T shaped building out on an island, with great pride. They had the Teen Titans, now just the 'Titans' having expanded over the past five years, with bases on each continent, and over twenty members. Of course, they had the original Titans they would boast, and felt that would never end._

_Of course they didn't realize that up in the Tower, Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Raven were addressing the hordes of Titans they headed through out the years. Many of the Titans were shocked at the words coming out of 'The Fives' mouths. Others shook their heads sadly, but didn't seem surprised at this decision. Still others were crying softly into their palms._

"_We've decided to take a 'sabbatical' of sorts," Robin intoned. "We're not leaving the Titans, but we just need a break. We've been through a lot, and while we've had great times together, it's time to say good-bye, at least for a little while. Some of us need time to explore their options," He looked over at Cyborg. "Some need privacy due to recent circumstances." He smirked over at Beast Boy and Ravens interlocked hands. "We aren't sure when we'll be coming back, but until then the de facto leaders are the Titans East." He glanced over at Bumblebee who nodded through tears. "We have a lot to do…" Starfire's hand found his and something in his heart jolted. It was a strange mixture of a powerful emotion he couldn't name, and remorse at what he knew he had to do._

_The next few hours were filled with disheartening good-byes._

"_So this is where you are. I guess I should have been surprised, but I am not." Robin wasn't surprised that Starfire had found him on the roof. If this was a normal day he would have smiled up at her, gotten up, and kissed her sweetly under the stars, after which they would talk about anything and everything. But tonight was not normal._

_Robin got up. "Starfire…"_

_Starfire looked up to him with tears in her eyes. "Everything is changing so fast Robin, and I know that while we need this break, I'm apprehensive. Especially about…us." She looked away from him, and Robin was faintly reminded of one adventure where they were stranded on a hostile alien planet._

"_What are we going to do for work? Where are we going to live?"_

_It was Robin's turn to look away. He felt his stomach clench in anticipation of Starfire's reaction to his latest news._

"_Starfire…I have something to tell you." Starfire's eyes gazed into his, and he felt like he was going to break in two. "I got a message from someone…when they found out I was leaving the Titans. They want me to work for them. And…I decided to take the job."_

_Starfire brightened. "That's great! Now all I need to do is find a job, and we can find an apartment somewhere--"_

"_Starfire, the message was from Bruce." An uncommon look of disgust flitted over her face._

"_The man has lots of that nerve to contact you." She paused. "Robin…why did you take the job?"_

"_I know things have been rough between us in the past…but I felt it's time I patched them up. I am different then before, even if he is not." _

_Starfire nodded. "But…Robin…Bruce **hates** me. How in the world will you bring him to accept our current relationship status, let alone the fact that we're going to be living together."_

_Robin turned away, he couldn't bear to look at her. "Starfire…I'm not sure how to say this but…we can't live together. Some many things are changing…I've changed …we've become rather sheltered in this life of ours and…"_

"_And what Robin?" The flatness in her voice forced him to face her. She was not crying as he thought she would (though her green eyes were bright) and she looked rather un-surprised at his news._

"_We can't see each other anymore Star." He felt his heart break in two, and would later swear to God the wind had whispered 'liar' when the next statement left his mouth. "It was fun while it lasted."_

_Robin looked her in the face and perturbed at what he saw. She was glaring at him through the tears rushing down her face. Her fragile body was racking with unheard sobs, but her words were strong as they tumbled out of her mouth._

" '_It was fun while it lasted?' That is the most insulting thing anyone has ever said to me Robin. I wish I could say I was surprised that you just took my heart and broke it in two, but I am not. I thought perhaps, you wouldn't do the 'breaking up' with me today, but I guess you are as commitment phobic as ever." Here her breathe hitched in her throat. "I guess you didn't realize today was Valentines Day Robin."_

_Richard stood struck on the spot as Starfire turned her back to him, and started striding to the door. "Starfire…"_

_She gazed back at him through her tears, and when she finally spoke to him it was with such emotions he didn't know what to do with himself. "Good bye Robin. You say you have changed, but you have not. Wake up. When you are ready to make a change, I shall be there waiting for you. I do not know when that shall be-for I do not even truly know you anymore._

_And with that, she was gone. _

_---_

Richard supposed he could have hacked into the Titan's mainframe, threatened a couple of newbie recruits, and forced the Titans East to reroute all of the Titans global positioning devices to locate Kory's whereabouts, but there was no need to. He knew exactly where to find her.

As he reached the roof of Titans tower, he was very exhausted. He scowled at himself as he pulled his leg over the edge of the building; he had only been out of commission for one year, and he couldn't even scale a ten story building easily anymore.

As he straightened up his breathe hitched in his throat, and not because he was exhausted from his ascent. **She** was there, simply standing there facing him, ruby hair ruffling in the breeze, green orbs staring past him into the sparkling ocean behind him. She was more beautiful then ever; more exotic then she had ever been in her uniform, standing there in simple jeans and a pale purple sweater. Whether she saw him there in front of him and was simply choosing to ignore him, or was honestly caught up in to many memories and the rhythmic pulse, he did not know. Her eyes did however, focus in on him as he strode forward with his hand out.

"Hello there, pleasure to meet you. My name is Richard Grayson, moronic dickhead at your service. I've spent a year feeling sorry for myself, and seem to be a lot dumber then everybody makes me out to be. I used to think change was simple, and that I could dictate it. I used to go by a different name, though that name no longer pertains to any creature other then a bird. About a year ago I made the biggest mistake of my life by not trusting my emotions. I do hope to get to know you on this Valentines Day evening. What is your name?"

Eyeing his hand with a mixture of confusion and amusement, she extended her hand to his and gave it a firm shake. This touch, this simple gesture nearly knocked him backwards. The emotions he had poured into it were being countered by the ones rolling off of the red head. His hand tightened around hers, a gesture that might have rendered the toughest politician to tears, but not her. He thought, he _knew_, she understood him, and could understand him always.

She always had.

Her hand tightened around his and for a second the emotions between the two swelled.

_Confusion, desperation, affection, annoyance._

She smiled at him.

_Love._

"Hello, my name is Kory Anders."

Standing there, hands now loosely entangled, a Kory Anders became the figurative alarm clock for a Richard Grayson.

"It is nice to see you've finally woken up."

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SHAMELESS PLUG(S) ALERT:

Please drop a review. It'd be great to see what people think. It's inspiring.

ALSO, if you happen to be registered on the R/S shrine, or want to see some REALLY good Titans fanfiction and/or icons (LIMS), go VOTE for the authors you think are the best. There should be info. in the contest thread. We seriously need some votes. The link to the shrine is in my profile.

Thanks!

-TC121


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